DIY Community WiFi Networks: Insights on Participatory Design

Abstract

This paper presents a first version of a set of insights developed collaboratively by researchers during a three-year participatory design project spread across four European locations. The MAZI project explored potential uses of a "Do-It-Yourself" WiFi networking technology platform. Built using low-cost Raspberry Pi computer hardware and specially developed, open-source software, this toolkit has the potential to enable hyper-local applications and services to be developed and maintained within a host community for its own use. The nine insights are a distillation and articulation of the collective reflections of the project partners gained from their experiences of working in diverse settings with varied communities and stakeholders. In this paper, we discuss the reflective process, we present the insights to the CHI community in order to gain feedback, and we situate our findings within previous literature.